I came home from London yesterday evening at a time that happened to be convenient to connect through to Melksham.  Just five people on the 20:52 from Swindon, 3 got off at Chippenham and the remaining 2 (myself included) got off in Melksham.

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What a contrast to a journey home from London at the tail of last year. These two pictures show a "then" and "now" train - both services were 2 coach trains, both pictures taken between Chippenham and Melksham. Looking carefully, I can see (or know there were) 9 people in the first picture and I know there are NONE in the second.

The first picture shows that the demand IS there and the second picture shows that the current service is not appropriate for the needs of the customers - it is only appropriate to meet the requirements of the franchise, and to make the profit from that franchise for the operator's shareholders.   I can't imaging that the DfT are actually happy with the level of passengers which (IMHO) is depressed by the lack of services and the dreadful timing of the few that do run.